There are two things that drive the newly appointed global chief operating officer of State Street Global Advisors, Greg Ehret, in his bid to improve the client experience: the retirement business is a cause worth working on and the clients are the reason the business exists. Ehret was appointed to the new position at State Street Global Advisors in September 2012, and as COO he is responsible for delivery to clients, which means operations, technology, client relationships, sales and marketing all report to him. It’s basically everything except investments, and [...]

As almost every market in the world looks to move from defined benefit to some sort of defined contribution model, academics at the Pensions Institute of the Cass Business School, City University London have developed a set of 15 principles for designing a defined contribution model. The principles, consistent with the recently published OECD guidelines, are based on more than a decade of research. First launched in London at an event jointly hosted by the OECD, World Bank and the International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) earlier this month, the principles cover model [...]

Tom Garcia has big shoes to fill. His predecessor, Fiona Reynolds, had the rare combination of qualities that made her very influential, persuasive, knowledgeable and liked. As the new, and only second, chief executive of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees, Garcia has the challenge of continuing the good work of its old head and creating a new way of his own. While there are many differences between the individuals, they do have the common drive of wanting to make a difference. Tom Garcia is relatively new to superannuation. His [...]

AustralianSuper’s aspiration to move 30 per cent of its assets inhouse has prompted a review of its governance environment to ensure it can accommodate those internal investments. The fund attributes about 86 per cent of its risk to portfolio strategy, investment operations, strategy and asset allocation, according to head of investment operations, Peter Curtis, and so that is where the focus of investments should be. AustralianSuper has been working with other large funds internationally to garner ideas and measure best practice, and has drawn on work done by the Global [...]

Whether facing the enemy, or the first day of a conference, something will go wrong and you must have people within your organisation who can adapt and overcome, according to retired Lieutenant Colonel of the US Marine Corp, Dan Mori. Mori, who had a 28-year career in the US Marines including defending David Hicks before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, was commenting on the characteristics of leaders and the principles of leadership as taught by the military. “I found myself in a very unique situation and I acted according [...]

The European Union will survive and the US economy will bounce back, according to international experts speaking at a CMSF plenary session. Andreas Huebner, senior managing director of Lazard, said the “EU will survive no problem” but acknowledged there was a long way to go, with economic fundamentals still weak. He sees the real problem as that of unemployment, with youth unemployment up to 50 per cent in some countries. He warned investors that all government debt was credit, and that investors should not treat it as secure. But he [...]

Chant West, in partnership with Conexus Financial, publisher of Investment Magazine, will present its first ever superannuation and pension awards in May. Both companies have a common vision of improving retirement income solutions and producing better outcomes for members and in the process calling industry participants to account for their actions. The time has come to name names Chant West has been a quiet achiever. First opening its doors in 1997 as an independent research and consulting firm advising companies and institutions about their super funds, it has morphed into [...]

The critical political, social and economic circumstances in Europe are top of mind for many investors. Last month Conexus Financial, publisher of Investment Magazine, hosted a group of Australia’s leading investors to discuss the opportunities in European distressed debt. Investors were joined by guest Sir David Cooksey, former board member of the Bank of England, chairman of the UK Audit Commission and chairman of UK Financial Investments. Cooksey is also a member of the advisory council at SVP Global, a distressed private-equity firm, which co-hosted the event. Investors were essentially [...]

The board of the Future Fund has a new way of operating since David Gonski became chair and instituted a number of governance structures from his knowledge in the corporate world, most specifically a committee structure. With vast experience on boards in the corporate, not-for-profit education and arts worlds, he has some clear views on what makes a good chair.   Since becoming chair of the $80-billion Future Fund in March, David Gonski has set an agenda to act like a public company chair. An element of that vision is [...]

QANTAS Super continues to innovate on implementation efficiency, applying a new structure for managing its Australian and global equities centrally, which is expected to save its members more than $9 million a year. Chief investment officer of the $6-billion fund, Andrew Spence, said the move was the latest in a number of innovative solutions employed by QANTAS Super to deliver implementation efficiencies through better management of transaction costs. The fund has also implemented an agency foreign-exchange program across its global equities and alternative assets, saving $1.4 million in the year [...]